(Newser)
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Conservatives have become less likely to trust science over the past 40 years—especially if they're educated, according to a new study. The study looked at the General Social Survey, which began asking Americans how they felt about science in 1974. Back then, conservatives were the biggest believers in science, with 48% reporting a great deal of trust. But by 2010, that had fallen to 35%, LiveScience reports.

Overall, trust in science is fairly low, with no group cracking 50%. Liberals have remained constant at 47%, and independents at 42%. Why have conservatives fallen? Author Gordon Gaulet suspects it's due partially to the increasingly politicized debate around science—with conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation challenging the scientific community—and partially to changes in the conservative movement. "Part of what being a conservative means is looking for alternatives for mainstream ideas and bases of knowledge, and science and the media are those," he observes.

I wonder what percentage of these people that don't have faith in science benefit from it every singe day of their lives... Do they not believe that science gave us better medicine, cell phones and computers, safer cars...? The list goes on and on... "Science" is objective and supposed to be unbiased- the word, science, whether it truly exists or not. We try to use science to improve lives. Sometimes science fails us, but so does god. YOu might argue that it could be taken advantage of for some people's own selfish benefit, but that is only human. Do you not believe in the idea of science, analyzing data, performing experiments? Or you'd rather just complain about our problems? Different people have different callings, and I think it's important for each sides to respect both of these views. We're both looking for the same kind of values- betterment of society. Why not try both ways and see what will help us more? Complaining or objective criticism.... They're both psychologically reasonable approaches for humans to take. We're all humans.

donosaur

Mar 30, 2012 10:44 AM CDT

The original article uses the word "Trust," not "Faith." That's a big difference.